The three made it to the end of the trail, a small resting place that overlooked a valley filled with trees. The leafy canopy could be seen for miles and the river that went through the park ran through the land like a blue and white foamy snake. He could remember when he was much younger and could still move, his parents used to take him rafting on that river. His stomach knotted at the remembrance of happy memories.
Sadly, the scene was barely impressive to him now. In the game he had seen far more amazing valleys filled with massive beasts or winds that made flying near impossible, but felt like a roller coaster when you flew with them. Flown through clouds over peeks of ice while wyverns chased him. Compared to that, how could a lifeless valley of green and blue compare?
“We have a surprise for you,” his mom said happily. “Your father and I have been talking it over and we know how much you enjoy your games. So, we decided we'd join you.”
It took him a few seconds to register the words. Then his mouth fell open. “W-what?” The stutter wasn't even from his lack of muscle control this time.
“Yep. We won't be able to play as much because of work, but we should be able to come on some nights and play your little game with you.”
“W-what game?” he said weakly as he stared at them in shock. They were going to play? He didn't know if he could keep them alive.
“Well, it took us a while to find one we thought you'd like and then we decided we were being silly. You love all your games so much, so we'll let you decide. Any game you want to play we'll join.” The light quiver in her voice caught Asher's attention.
Her hands were nervously rubbing themselves and her eyes were trembling. He could guess why. They were likely going to live years longer than he was. Not to mention that most of the time he was awake he spent in his games, so they didn't get to see him much without drawing him out. Neither of his parents liked the games and his mom was a bit phobic of them. The headsets messed with the signals sent throughout the body and a handful of the original sets had caused severe damage to a few of the testers, but that was ages ago, before the equipment had been perfected. The fact she was willing to try it for him made him feel a little warmth in his chest. “I-I'll find a r-really g-good one,” he said with difficulty. “W-we'll have a l-lot of fun.”
“I'm sure we will,” she said softly, though the quiver remained.
“Just make sure not to choose one of those naughty games I know you kids think are all the craze,” his father said with a chuckle. “We don't want anything popping up on our records.”
Asher couldn't resist rolling his eyes at that bad joke. The whole superstition about some games getting you on government 'lists' was given up on long ago. Granted the main ones who disproved it were government ran agencies, so there were still plenty of conspiracy theorists out there who swore they were being monitored every time they logged in. Frankly, he didn't care. What were they going to find, that he played an angel?
“I-I'm ready to go back,” he said softly and soon they were heading back along the path. His mind was jumping with ideas. If he could get his parents to like the game he chose, they might understand why he played so much. They might even let him play more often, maybe they'd talk to the hospital about letting him play after lights out. He spent the rest of the picnic focusing on the new task of choosing the game and before he knew it the picnic was over. He was all to happy to be back on his way home and logging back in to his world.
------
Asura appeared back in her room, this time laying on the pink bed. She'd had a few more minutes left over last time before the angel had to log out, so she had lounged about her room for a bit. She did love the feel of the soft blankets on her body.
She checked her messages first and found quite a few new ones, mostly from B4hamutt. She quickly glanced through them one by one. She then darted out the balcony and jumped off, spreading her wings. Asura flew south as fast as she could, engaging the auto-flight when she had the chance. “Damn it, Mutt! No fair heading off without me! I'm going to kill you if you figure this out before I get there!”
Her destination was a mid-level area in the demon region. While most areas in the game had been fully mapped, it remained one of the few, possibly the only one on the main continent, that hadn't.
At her max flight speed the world flew by like a blur and she arrived outside the woods before she knew it. Despite the fact it was still daytime in the game, the forest was completely cloaked in darkness. Webbing covered almost all the trees and even from outside the forest she could see spiders skittering around the webs, some only a few centimeters long while others were as large as horses. Many of the trees were so coated in webs that from a distance they looked like they were covered in snow. She gulped nervously. The place was nicknamed 'Spider Hell' for a reason.
Rather than going straight in she sent a message to B4hamutt, a part of her hoping he didn't respond so she could go somewhere else. She let out a groan when she received a response along with a map to his location. Slowly she took a deep breath and nervously walked inside, her angelic wings tight against her back. Rather than equipping Excalibur she wore her new axe, Scalemorne. It was a high level weapon, the best she could use, with a life draining ability and high damage. It was a double headed axe made of black rock and laden with gold runes. Fortunately, none of the monsters would attack her due to her level. It didn't, however, stop the less combat capable ones from walking around and climbing along her legs as her feet tugged at the webbing.
Once she was inside a few yards and the darkness got overwhelming she used the flaming hands spell to allow herself to see. It took every ounce of willpower to avoid screaming as just a few feet from her was a massive tarantula the size of a wagon. Its legs alone were bigger than her. She whimpered and targeted it, letting out a sigh of relief at its comparatively low level. One swing of her axe would have killed it with ease. The spider turned its eight beady eyes on her before starting to walk off into the woods.
She whimpered and continued to walk along the path. It took every fiber of her being not to look down. The path was covered in webbing and every step tugged on it, sending tiny spiders scurrying and applying a small slow effect to her. She could FEEL them running along her feet and legs, darting around like frightened animals. While they were all too low level to attack her, the smallest ones were considered 'atmosphere' and therefore could run along her without worry. She could, of course slaughter them, but as many as there were it wouldn't do any good unless she did a spell that covered a large area. It would burn through her MP way too fast to make it at all worthwhile. Though she really began to consider it as she tried to ignore the feeling of webbing sticking to her legs and spiders crawling along her armor. A part of her wondered if it was as bad as it felt or if her imagination was just making it worse.
She screamed as a spider the size of a dog fell from above and landed on her wing. It wasn't attacking her so much as just landing on her, but that didn't stop her from tearing it apart with her axe and then running down the path as fast as she could.
She was eventually stopped by a scaled hand wrapping around her waist. She quickly turned and started slicing at the thing with her axe. “GAHHHHHHHH!” she kept screaming until she realized it was B4hamutt. “Don't do that!” She struck him one more time with the axe, dealing no damage, but knocking him back. A pop-up was displayed that asked if she wished to initiate PVP. She almost said yes.
“Eesh, why you trying to wake the whole forest?” he asked before he got back to his feet and shook the spiders off.
“Spiders. Everywhere! Landed on my back, scared me half to death! Why weren't you out there? I'd cleave you in half if I thought I could!”
“Bah, you big baby. In my home town we got spiders the size of your head and they're a lot more aggressive. Poisonous too.”
That sent chills down her spine. “Where the hell do you live? No, you know what? I don't wanna know. I just wanna burn it with fire. Let's just go and see if we can find Scales,” Asura
grumbled after she used Scalios's nickname.
“Touchy. You aren't scared of spiders, are you? I'm more than willing to do this alone if need be.”
“I'm just a little touchy about them, okay?” she yelled. “But there is no way I am giving up a chance to find out about unlocking the advanced magics. I'd sooner burn this forest to the ground. Actually I'd sooner burn this forest to the ground anyway, but since we can't destroy the trees faster than they'd respawn let's just AGGGGGGGGHHHH!” she screamed at the top of her lungs as something brushed against the back of her neck. She held the axe high as she turned around and saw B4hamutt holding up his hand at neck height with a smirk on his face. “Don't do that!” she said before she stormed off.
B4hamutt was a dragon character, covered in jagged red scales and holding an axe that looked as if it was made of obsidian. He was taller than her and had gone for the broad shoulders and thick muscles look like most who played the game chose. His hair and eyes were red as well, leaving her to wonder if he rushed his character creation. Even his name was a bit rushed. Granted, she couldn't really talk, she had been very lucky to get the name Asura. She was able to log in on the first day and claim the name for herself and in the course of the almost two years of playing she had already run into four people who had off shoots of her name. Though three of them didn't pop up until she became famous in the game.
She did feel a lot better now that her friend was with her, though that was mostly because whenever they caught sight of spiders larger than a dog she would quickly interpose him between her and it. She couldn't help but notice he was in his dragon class despite the fact he had spent the last year leveling as a holy beast. “I see you wanted to use a more familiar form here too, huh?” She glanced down and smile. “While we're on the subject, I don't think I ever asked, what is the weapon bonus of your master axe?”
“Huh? Oh, this?” He hefted up the obsidian blade. “Explosions. Every time I strike with it the point of contact explodes. Doesn't hurt me or allies, and makes it a great area damaging weapon. I can turn the explosions off to give it a damage bonus as well for when I have single targets. Though sometimes I wish it could cleave though armor, like your sword.”
“Interesting. I wonder what the other weapons do,” she said. “We don't really play together anymore, do we? Shame Scales didn't join us. Would have been like old times. Where we could go anywhere but here.”
“Not since we completed the master class quests. Been too busy mastering new things, I guess. Scales has been the same way.”
“Yeah, a shame. We should do another guild party or something soon. After this years master class quests I'm sure more of our players will get their master hoods and then we can throw a big party,” Asura suggested with a forced grin, trying to focus on the conversation rather than what she could feel crawling along her greaves, or the sound of crushed sticks behind them.
“That could be fun. There is something I wanted to ask you. After you got master class, why did you go that build?” He motioned to her armor. “If you use a long sword, why not use a real shield instead of that armor? Or make Excalibur a great sword so you can use it two handed?”
“Sometimes I like to dual wield. Well, at least try it. I'm honestly not that good at it yet,” she said with a sigh. “I sometimes switch it to the great sword too. Honestly I just don't like the shields. They make me feel sluggish and awkward, so I prefer to just deflect attacks with my armored gauntlet.” She held up her left hand, showing off the thicker metal and jewels that surrounded the arm. “Besides, it works as enough of a shield with its armor level.”
“You tried using that type of armor with dragon class?”
“Of course! I think it's going to end up becoming my trade mark. Eventually every angel will wear this kind of armor,” Asura said with a soft chuckle. She glanced back for a moment.
“So you noticed our little follower yet?” B4hamutt asked before he moved a bit closer to her.
“A while ago. Demon class judging by how he's not showing up on our maps. If he'd stop tripping and kicking branches out of his way, I'd have never noticed him,” she said before she reached around to grab her axe and quickly used it to slice through a spider that crossed their path.
“Why do you assume it's a he?” he asked in a mock hurt tone.
“Because demons are always boys. Everyone knows they're made of dog hair and stuff.” She let the flame from her hand die down and stretched a little. “Think there might be more of them?”
“Maybe. You want to go first or should I?”
“I'll do it. Just keep the light up,” she said before she turned around and charged down the path. With a single movement the winged girl slashed in a horizontal arc, cleaving three spiders in two and striking a horned demon boy who was knocked back out of the shadows. A menu popped up asking if she wanted to engage PVP, though the fact he was knocked back let her know he already had it enabled. She wondered how many he'd ambushed and if he could still travel to towns without being attacked by the guards or auto-enabled for PVP.
“Ow! Hey! What was that for?” The boy asked angrily. He froze when the axe was raised over his head.
“What are you doing here? Why were you following us?” Asura asked in annoyance. Her eyes went wide as she recognized the player. “Caelite! How did you get out of prison so fast?”
“Huh? How do you know about... Deva? Oh crap,” the demon said before he raised his hands defensively. “I-I was just tracking players I saw in here! I thought I could leach some items off you when you killed the monsters. I-I wasn't going to attack you, honest!”
She brought her axe down on his weapon, a small black naginata. It was hardly the strongest item a demon could use. Especially compared to when last they met. She flipped through a few menus to bring up the boys bounty. “Huh. Wow. Your record is kind of... low, since last time,” she said in disappointment. “Only a few dozen silver! I guess you payed off your debts for the prison? That had to hurt.”
“Yes,” he said nervously.
“Are you a member of Arachnaphobia?” B4hamutt asked.
“No! I just wanted some easy items, that's all!” the boy said as he started to shake. “I don't even know who that is!”
Asura wondered how many items he'd managed to get so far and would lose if she killed him now. She slowly moved the axe back and forth. Finally she sighed and pulled the blade back. “You're not really worth killing, so I tell you what. Get out of these woods and stop killing players. Maybe join a nice guild that will help you and stop causing people problems. Next time I see you getting a bounty I'll kill you so many times you'll be in debt until you master three classes, got it?” Granted, she didn't really have a way of doing that, but it still felt good to give such a threat. The boy in question nodded, turned and ran as fast as he could.
“You know, I'll say this for the boy. He is pretty brave,” B4hamutt said.
“What? Why? He ran like a child,” Asura said with a snicker.
“He's been stalking people in these woods, probably ambushing them. It can't be easy navigating in the dark like this, not to mention how many giant spiders he's probably ran into and had crawling all over him when he's on the prowl. He even seemed more scared of dying than actually heading off into those woods without the light.”
“... Okay, that's kind of creepy.” She glanced back towards the demon, but he was already gone from view. “So, who's Arachnaphobia?”
“Demon based guild,” B4hamutt muttered before they started walking again. “Not a lot of them, but I hear they tend to hang out in these woods to ambush players. Big on player killing. Doubt we'll run into any though, the woods are pretty big and there will likely be easier targets than us.”
Asura nodded. “Do you have any idea where Scales disappeared from? Think he might have ran into them?” she asked before she flipped through some more menus. The angel let out an involuntary squeak when a small spider dropped down and landed on her hand. She shook it off and swore by the h
eavens to NEVER EVER come here again.
“No idea. Last message I got from him was when he said he'd killed the spider matriarch boss. I guess we'll have to start from there.”
“Please tell me you're kidding. That's an underground fight. In a nest of spiders. That's horrifying!”
B4hamutt stopped. “Yeah. We're here.” The two stopped in front of a large stone cavern. The entire mouth of the cave was covered in thick webs and small cocoons could be seen intermixed with them, some of which still moved. To make it even more realistic occasionally spiders would crawl to the moving ones and soon they would stop moving. All in all, it was easily one of the worst dungeons to go through. She didn't know how Scales managed to go it alone.
“Do we have to? I mean, maybe it was something else?” Asura watched him head towards the entrance.
“All the rumors mentioned killing the matriarch first. Come on,” he said in annoyance, before beginning to push through the webbing. When he knocked them aside occasionally spiders would fall from above and skitter off, though he didn't seem to care. Asura followed closely behind and made herself as small as possible, trying desperately to avoid being touched by any of the eight legged creatures or their webbing.
“I hate this place so much,” she said softly. The inner chambers were wide and open, though the floor and walls were coated in sticky webbing. It was a difficult area to fight in and she could see beady eyed spiders on the roof of the chamber, watching and waiting to attack any adventurers that dared to come into their home. Fortunately B4hamutt and her were far too high level to trigger the creatures, but she didn't want to imagine what this place must have been like to the first people who came here at the proper level. The forest lived up to its nickname.
A few spiders the size of horses soon blocked their path, but they were dispatched by her ally in a few quick axe strikes. “I am never, ever coming here again,” Asura said. Both their bodies were now covered in webbing and it was only through periodic castings of the flaming body spell that their bodies weren't covered in tiny spiders as well. Even so she swore she could feel them all over her.
Landasy Reality: Angel's Escape Page 6